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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23816446">Tense</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialArcadia/pseuds/CelestialArcadia'>CelestialArcadia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>GO-Events Name That Author Prompt Fills [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff and Humor, Love Confessions, Other, POV Crowley (Good Omens), POV Third Person Limited, Post-Good Omens, a tiny dash of possible innuendo, as a treat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:35:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>495</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23816446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialArcadia/pseuds/CelestialArcadia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Aziraphale re-introduces Crowley to a book he'd rather have forgotten.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>GO-Events Name That Author Prompt Fills [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730080</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Name That Author Round One</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tense</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was my entry for the Name That Author event on the GO Events discord server! We were tasked with writing a fic no longer than 500 words based on the prompt "Six weeks after the world doesn't end, Aziraphale shows up at Crowley's door holding a book."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Crowley awoke in a foul mood. Someone was knocking on his door, and they <i>wouldn't leave</i>. He tried to ignore the knocking, figuring that nobody would be so stubborn as to continue knocking after five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes…</p><p>After an hour of attempting to wait out the unwanted visitor, Crowley conceded defeat. He dragged himself out of bed, not bothering to make himself presentable. He opened the door prepared to give his visitor a scare to drive them away, but—</p><p>"Aziraphale?"</p><p>Aziraphale fretted a bit. He held an old, unmarked book in his hands.</p><p>"Did I wake you, Crowley?"</p><p>"No," Crowley replied sardonically.</p><p>"Oh, that's good! I really didn't want to inconvenience you."</p><p>He was so sincere about it that Crowley almost felt like apologizing for being inconvenienced. (Almost.) "What's up, angel? Any particular reason you just spent an hour knocking on my front door?"</p><p>Aziraphale pulled the book against his chest. "Oh dear. Er, I can come back later if you'd like—"</p><p>"No, no. You're here now, might as well come in."</p><p>Crowley led Aziraphale to his fashionably uncomfortable chaise longue. It was either that or the throne, which could only hold one of them; or the bed, which was—they weren't in that part of their relationship, which they didn't have, so of course they weren't in that part of their nonexistent relationship—</p><p>"Crowley?"</p><p>"Sorry, got distracted." Crowley gestured to Aziraphale's book. "What's this?"</p><p>"It's a book." Aziraphale's face turned bright red as he grimaced. "I, uh. Thought you might be. Interested. In seeing it."</p><p>"Sure, I guess." Crowley was a bit confused; Aziraphale knew that he wasn't much of a reader.</p><p>Hands trembling, Aziraphale gave him the book. Crowley opened it to a random page, noting that the contents were handwritten, not printed. He read aloud:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <i>The angel pulled me against him, throwing away my hair tie, causing my scarlet locks to fall down on my shoulders. I ran my hands through his soft blond hair as our mouths crashed into each other. Then I brought a hand down to his</i>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>Crowley slammed the book closed.</p><p>"Where. Did you. Find this?"</p><p>"I, ah. Bought a 1900s book lot in an auction about a month ago. This...was in it."</p><p>There was a long, awkward silence between them.</p><p>Crowley hadn't recognized the outside of the book, but he was familiar with the contents. Perhaps too familiar. He regretted not destroying the blasted thing while he had the chance.</p><p>Aziraphale broke the silence, his voice small and timid. "Crowley, did you...write this?"</p><p>Crowley's mind told him to deny everything. Instead he nodded wordlessly, the motion barely perceptible.</p><p>"If I may ask...why?"</p><p>"Why do you <i>think</i>?"</p><p>"I...I wouldn't want to presume."</p><p>"I was in love with you. Clearly."</p><p>"Was. Past tense."</p><p>"...no, am. Present tense."</p><p>Aziraphale perked up, picking up one of Crowley's hands in both of his. "The feeling's mutual, dearest."</p><p>Crowley was no longer in a foul mood.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The only thing I didn't like about how short the word limit was was that I couldn't make the excerpt of Crowley's writing even worse.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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